Advice on ROTC Scholarship Offers

[redsmom]

First, I want to thank each and every member who has posted on this forum. The words of wisdom, advice, and information you have shared has been extremely valuable to my son who is a candidate for admission to the service academies for the class of 2011.

My question is--son is already receiving offers of 4-year ROTC scholarships from some of the colleges he listed on his application. All are great schools.
He has not yet received an offer from his first choice college. One of the offers has a letter of intent deadline of 11/24. If I understand the information we read in the ROTC packet correctly, you may only accept one scholarship offer. (This is his Plan B if offer of nomination/appointment does not come through with academies. He knows he will forfeit any 4 year scholarship if he gets an appointment.)

For those of you who have sons or daughters facing the same decision, what would they do? Would they wait and see if the first choice school comes through, or would they commit to one of the other offers on the table? Anyone else who has already been through this, please feel free to comment as well. Thanks for any advice you are willing to share.

[Just_A_Mom]

Congratulations to your son! All his hard work is paying off. Choices are great to have but can be a double edged sword as you are finding out.
I believe that your interpretation is correct that if your son chooses an offer in November he cannot accept another offer later.
While my daughter listed 6 schools, none were a clear first choice but all were schools she could live with. While some schools on her list were "reach" schools the school that made her the offer she should be accepted to easily. This was another factor in accepting her offer. With an early ROTC offer you don't have the luxury of waiting to be accepted to the school, so accept from a school that you know you can get into easily.
To wait until the next round for an offer from a "first choice" school is potentially risky. If the offer doesn't come then he could be out of a scholarship. However, he would have the option, I believe, to enroll without scholarship and apply for a 3 year - something to inquire about.
He should talk to the Professor of Military Science at his first choice school.
Also, consider his notion of "first choice" school. Seniors in high school are notorious for changing their "first choice" throughout they year. Evaluate the reasons for the "first choice". Can he live with and be happy at the schools who made him offers? Has he visited all the school and their ROTC departments?

Your son must have an excellent package to have received multiple ROTC offers. Hopefully, that will translate into a service academy appointment for him! Good Luck.

[redsmom]

Just A Mom-

Thanks so much for your help and for the information you have shared. I will pass your comments on to my son. Hopefully this will help with his decision.

[app ma]

Son got a 4 yr ROTC offer to his top pick school (if USNA doesn't happen). He has a deadline date on the return this month. Question : Can he accept to meet the deadline and not jeopardize his USNA chances. AND if so, is there any repurcussion if he gets USNA and then turns notifies ROTC that he will go to USNA and not take the ROTC offer afterall?

[kpmom2011]

My son got 4 year NROTC to his top choice also. Subsequently he also recieved appointment to USMMA. The navy folks told him to accept the ROTC just in case something happens re the academy. The ROTC is non binding. If you look at the offer you'll see that.

BEST OF LUCK TO YOUR SON! Did he apply to USMMA? My son was all Naval Academy until he realized how awesome the opportunities were at USMMA.

[app ma]

Thanks for the answer --our eyes are blurry from reading and re-reading everything that comes through. He is responding in the affirmative. He did not apply to USMMA. He wishes he had after reading these posts with me. It sounds like a great place. He applied to USNA and also USCGA. He's hanging in tough, but he scares the mail man now.